Concrete, structural steel, and other structural members, left untreated, are susceptible to weakening in catastrophic events such as fire, explosions and attacks. Steel, for example, begins to lose its rigidity at approximately 1200° F. The most extraordinary example of this failure is the collapse of the World Trade towers on Sep. 11, 2001. During 9/11, the steel of the world trade towers was exposed to very high temperatures for a prolonged period of time.
Steel insulators, like those used in the World Trade Center, often delaminate during expansion which occurs in fires. Delamination also occurs in substrates having excess curvatures. Failure of insulators also occurs with prolonged exposure and excessive heat. Typical insulators include gypsum and Portland Cement. However, these substrates lose their binding properties above approximately 1400° F. Also, gypsum and Portland Cement provide no corrosion resistance to the underlying substrates.
A need exists in the art for an insulator to provide thermal protection to building structure members. The insulator must remain intact and provide protection to structural members in temperatures exceeding those found in petroleum-fed fires, electrical fires, and in those situations where a myriad of combustibles at the site are consumed to produce synergistic temperatures in excess of the ignition temperature of any one combustible. A need also exists for a method to produce a high-temperature resistant insulator, whereby the method uses standard ingredients, equipment, and typically trained formulators so as to provide a low-cost insulator.